Police fired tear gas and water cannon at over 800 protesters in Ankara, angered at a mine explosion that killed at least 238 people on Wednesday, AFP reports.
The demonstrators, mainly students, threw stones at police and chanted anti-government slogans. Their attempt to march to the energy ministry in Ankara was quashed by security forces, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
An estimated 150 workers are still trapped underground after the blast in the Soma mine caused a pit to collapse, killing hundreds. At least 350 miners were rescued as ambulances took bodies away.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Edrogan already arrived at the disaster site on Wednesday, offering condolences to grieving family members.
It is believed that an electrical fault triggered a power cut the day before, leading to the collapse of the mine, bringing forward allegations of negligence on the governments part.
